Sennheiser HD 490 Pro review | Juno Daily
Sennheiser’s new flagship studio model aims to strike a balance between neutrality, engagement and comfort. Greg Scarth sits down for some critical listening.
Like so many things in life, headphones are all about balance. Aside from the obvious compromise between accurate and engaging sound, manufacturers are trying to balance comfort with weight, all while keeping costs as low as possible. Sennheiser’s new HD 490 Pro headphones represent the latest attempt by a hugely experienced brand to square all those competing elements, offering what claim to be the best balance between sound, comfort and price for studio use.
The 490 Pros are specifically aimed at studio applications, both production and mixing/mastering, but given that Sennheiser’s open-backed HD models have historically been popular with audiophiles and gamers, they’re likely to be just as popular outside the studio. That open-backed, circumaural design is worth a quick caveat for those who haven’t used open-backed headphones before: open designs aren’t sealed around your ear like closed designs, with the drivers exposed and visible through grilles on the ear pieces. As such, they don’t seal in the sound, so they’re not typically considered suitable for wearing while recording vocals or other scenarios where noise spill is completely unacceptable. The benefits, on the other hand, are widely accepted to be a more neutral, natural sound than closed designs and a less fatiguing feel for long listening sessions.
The HD 490s arrive neatly packaged in recycled cardboard, a nice touch which nods at Sennheiser’s increased efforts to keep their products eco-friendly. It’s worth mentioning that this is the standard bundle, which includes two pairs of ear pads, a coiled 1.8 m cable and a 6.3 mm jack adaptor. The slightly more expensive HD 490 Pro Plus bundle includes all of that plus a 3 m straight cable, carry case and spare headband pad. Those two pairs of ear pads are a surprisingly important aspect of the HD 490 approach. These are the first thing you see upon opening the box, along with an explanation of how the two differ. The smooth, velour-style production ear pads are intended “for extended listening sessions and gaining an overall impression on your projects” while the mesh-like, fabric mixing ear pads are “for dialling in on critical elements, so you can refine every detail of your mix or master”.
Those differences in sound are reflected by the substantially different frequency response curves for each pair of pads. The mixing pads give a flatter response up to about 1.5 kHz, while the production pads have a more pronounced low-end boost leading up to a peak around 100 Hz, before tailing off to a dip around 2 kHz.
There’s no setup involved to get started with the HD 490s, with the production ear pads installed out of the box and the cable attached. The cable uses a mini XLR connector, and can be swapped between the left and right sides of the speakers to suit your requirements. With an impedance of 130 ohms, the HD 490s are easily driven by just about any audio interface, mixer, or the headphone output of something like an Akai MPC workstation.
The first thing that’s noticeable is the impressive levels of bass and sub-bass, frequencies which are often a bit underwhelming with open-backed headphones, especially if you’re more familiar with closed back designs. The HD 490s are sublimely revealing without feeling overly hyped or harsh in the high frequencies. Settling in to listen for longer, the HD 490s aren’t the lightest headphones around but they’re light enough and feel exceptionally comfortable. The difference in sound between the production and mixing earpads is an interesting one; the production pads are noticeably bassier, but we wouldn’t necessarily say they can’t be used for mixing as well as things like sound design and arrangement. It’s a case of personal preference, but if you get used to the balance of them they should prove more than revealing enough to make mixes which translate well to club systems.
Sonically, the HD 490s live up to their billing as phenomenal all-rounders, delivering exceptional clarity and an open, revealing sound stage which allows you to focus in on details. In terms of value, it’s worth mentioning that both HD 490 bundles include a download code for Dear Reality’s dearVR MIX software (worth £90), which offers Spatial Headphone Compensation, helping to make the headphones sound more like a pair of speakers in a room via spatial audio processing. All in all, the HD 490 Pros are very impressive headphones which promise to become studio favourites.
Greg Scarth